Sadly, Shadowrun is not correct. It is a work of fiction.
That said, will anyone be surprised if I turn into a tiny, decrepit gnome overnight?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Sadly, Shadowrun is not correct. It is a work of fiction.
That said, will anyone be surprised if I turn into a tiny, decrepit gnome overnight?
I thought 10% already WERE orcs and trolls. At least I see a lot of trolls on teh intertoobs.
How could we tell when this 10% changes? I already see a lot of people who could pass as orcs and trolls.
Look, I think we can all agree that you should NEVER make a deal with a dragon.
I was obsessed with that game back in high school! More recently I’ve come to realize that the dragons are a metaphor for unfettered capitalism. They live for 1000s of years and accumulate wealth just for the sake of accumulating wealth. Sound familiar?
I literally named a dragon in one campaign I was running “Lloyd”.
@Akira Mackenzie, that goes right along with NEVER trust an elf.
Ooo! Ooo! Can I be an ent?
(I know everyone thinks they’re gonna be an ent. Tell me about.)
…and we won’t talk about the case of dragon sickness I have developed after 20 years in Silicon Valley.
The fiction part of Shadowrun is the freaky magic stuff, the rest seems pretty on point.
Day’s not over yet! It could still happen.
insert repeated joke about how trolls and orcs are already here
I also read “goblinization” as “globalization” until just now. Maybe that’s intentional. Somehow the rest of it still made sense.
I recommend the graphic novel Rat Queens; elves, orcs and others employed to support the city watch of the town Palisade.
By contrast, the city watch of Ankh-Morpork had exemplary standards of sobriety, cleanliness and discipline…
Ahh, I can feel it working….
If all the cops and military turned into orcs, would we notice?
If all the QAnon crowd turned into trolls, would we notice?
If all the cryptocurrency mining facilities became eldrich hellholes belching forth fumes to destroy the existing ecosystem, would we notice?
So, in-game, is this before or after all the volcanos in the PNW go boom? Because while I’ve written reports on the worst-case scenario for Mt Rainier and Seattle (no damage, but we might get real hungry before the port can re-open and the highways and railroads get cleaned/re-built), there are kind of a lot of volcanos around here, and I’d rather not have them all go boom at once. (Or, you know, in my lifetime.)
@14 The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs)
If all the cops and military turned into orcs, would we notice?
Well, overall quality of life would improve in the USA.
I’m an elf decker, always have been.
DanDare@17 Sorry, I need to bone up on my Shadowrun nomenclature. Not someone who punches elves then?
Just realized that avatar is the Dog Spirit from the 1993 SNES game. You meet him early in the game and then it just kind of isn’t a thing any more.
@kurt1: I am nowhere near the only person to note that we’re actually living in a world very similar to every cyberpunk dystopia, just without the cool body mods, etc.
Indeed, in some respects worse. For example, if you read Snow Crash and other works, you’ll find it as assumed that the Matrix (the Internet) is fundamentally public. Like, in Snow Crash you always control your avatar. But… the Internet space is heavily privatized. Fortnite won’t let you control your avatar. Nor will Twitter or Facebook, not fully. So we’ve accepted intrusions into our lives from corporate powers that would have caused revolutions in cyberpunk novels.
So, yeah, if we’re going to live in a cyberpunk dystopia, bring me my Feng Shui wizards, vampires and rad cyberware.
@19: No, actually, he’s the one who gives you all your magic, and prepares you to fight the dragon that you ultimately take down. Some people miss it because it’s in the ports, but Kitsune in the bar also tells you about it. I highly recommend replaying it; it is so good!
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